Once Upon A Time: The 25 Best Characters, Ranked!

With all seven seasons of Once Upon a Time set to find a fitting new home on Disney+ (starting Friday, Sept. 18), what better time to conjure a ranking of the ABC series' all-time best characters?

Of course, sifting and sorting through all of the human and other creatures to pass through Storybrooke, the Enchanted Forest and good ol' Hyperion Heights is quite a feat. A magic wand would have come in handy! But we're feeling pretty good about our Top 10, whereas the rest of the list is sure to be up for discussion, debate and dissection.

In revisiting Once Upon a Time's many characters, we were reminded of just how many throwaways there were (Sonequa Martin-Green's Tamara, we hardly knew ye!), and how many opportunities were missed (could Elsa's storyline have been more lukewarm?). But the good memories outweigh the bad — and heck, even two "requel" season originals made our cut.

Lastly, there was some debate about ranking, for example, Mr. Gold and Rumple (and Weaver for that matter) separately. I quickly decided against that, because it gets awfully fuzzy with some "multi" characters. Instead, everyone is judged on the entirety of their existences, including wee-turned-strapping Henry.

Now get to reviewing and ranting!

Elsa's backside may have been the showstopper as Season 3 came to a corporately synergized close, but it was the ice princess' aunt and eventual adversary, Ingrid aka the Snow Queen, who gave the Frozen-adjacent storyline its emotional heft. Veritably freezing heaven and earth in a scheme to recreate, via Elsa and Emma the Savior, the sisterly bond she had long ago lost to tragedy, Ingrid eventually came to her senses and sacrificed herself to undo the spell she cast on Storybrooke.

As perfectly cast as the ginger mermaid was (with JoAnna Garcia Swisher), OUAT never seemed sure how to utilize the character. As a result, following her initial intro (as part of a Snow White storyline), Ariel would intermittently turn up now and again — sometimes quite randomly (such as when she ran into Princess Jasmine at a bazaar), but at least once in a crowd-pleasing manner (when Regina summoned her to Neverland, to run swim an important errand back in Storybrooke).

The formidable warrior gave Aurora and Phillip quite a start when she removed her helmet to reveal that a girl woman was inside. In joining the two on a quest, Mulan grew closer to the more princess-like Aurora, but only once hinted at feelings deeper than friendship. Following a later adventure that crossed her path with Robin Hood's, Mulan met Ruby — at first in wolf form! — and sagely counseled her new friend to not make the mistake she did but instead be forthright with her feelings for a certain Kansas farmgirl.

My, Pinocchio, how you've grown! Geppetto, we learned, sneaked his anthropomorphized doorstop of a son safe passage in the same wardrobe that delivered newborn Emma to our realm. From there, he watched over Emma, always from a distance, until one day he surfaced in Storybrooke and introduced himself as a writer. The August/Pinocchio combo was perhaps more interesting than the show ever made proper time for, though, seeing as he would come and go as storyline (or lack thereof) demanded.

The iconic "Tink" didn't show up until Season 3, but when she did the plucky lass brought some overdue backstory about the workings of OUAT's fairy world in the course of kinda setting Regina on the path of finding her soulmate. Meanwhile in the present timeline, Tinker Bell got roped into the shenanigans in Neverland, after making peace with Regina and helping the heroes infiltrate Pan's lair. In the end, Tink would need to save Blue Fairy's bacon back in Storybrooke to be given her wings back.

The daughter of "Nook" aka the Wish realm's Hook and, well, Gothel (long, sordid, non-consensual story!), Alice was for years confined to Rapunzel's tower as well as forbidden by a spell to ever hug her dad. As Hyperion Heights' Tilly, she thus rightly came across a bit "mad" as a hatter, while also sensing a "connection" to Nook's Officer Rogers persona. Tilly also gravitated to fitness instructor Kelly aka Zelena's daughter Margot, unaware that pre-curse they were romantically entangled as Alice and Robin.

Blue was among the first Enchanted Forest characters we met, as Snow, Charming et al gathered 'round in the pilot to strategize against the Evil Queen's looming Dark Curse. It was as the fairy boss, and less so as the Storybrooke nun, that Blue figured into storylines, including Tinker Bell's backstory and the truth about Geppetto, Pinocchio and the enchanted wardrobe.

While Ariel may have gotten short shrift over her own handful of appearances, OUAT did something interesting with Ursula of Little Mermaid lore by giving her a quite tragic backstory, in which her father Poseidon robbed her of her beautiful singing voice. Bitter and having transformed herself into a sea witch, Ursula eventually aligned with Queens of Darkness Cruella and Maleficent and stormed Storybrooke in search of their long-elusive happy endings. And Ursula, for one, would find hers, upon reconciling with her dad and getting her voice back.

As Storybrooke's resident shrink, Archie was a helpful tool for us to get to know Henry, Regina et al, as the series got underway. In flashbacks as Jiminy Cricket, we saw the leadership qualities the transmogrified thief wielded... or at least tried to, such as when he failed to convince Geppetto to not sneak his son Pinocchio into the enchanted wardrobe, thus keeping Snow White from accompanying newborn Emma.

The Magic Mirror was Mayor Mills' accomplice of sorts early on, offering counsel as well as the opportunity to spy on Storybrooke's goings-on. But the character's original incarnation, as the Genie of Agrabah, was far more compelling, falling in love as he did with Regina, the wife of the king who used a wish to free him from a magic lamp. The smitten genie would be royally duped, twice, by Regina — first into killing Leopold, and then by having his own wish, to gaze upon her forever, bite him in the glass.

Who else ever gave the heroes a heads-up that a curse was coming?

Full disclosure: This spot was originally set aside for Maleficent, but upon revisiting the villainess' off-and-on-and-off-and-off-again story from over the years, it was decided to instead give Regina's mother, whether played by Barbara Hershey or Rose McGowan, her due. Told in flashbacks, "the miller's daughter's" own tale was intricate and tragic in its own right, while in the present day, she proved to be as much as mover and shaker as her daughter.

The leader of the Lost Boys was a real piece of work, a fiendish take on the loveable if mischievous imp of lore. Add onto that the fact that the "lad" was in fact Rumplestiltskin's own father (!), thus reigniting another rivalry for the Dark One, and you have one of the show's biggest love-to-hate nemeses.

Ruby was an early standout upon the series' launch, with the emo waitress seeming to be out of place in the Norman Rockwellian Storybrooke. The reveal that she was also a big, bad wolf was among OUAT's great switcheroos. And though she would inexplicably vanish from the canvas for several years, her eventual return — to be romantically paired with Oz's Dorothy — gave many viewers the LGBT representation they had long wanted, if not the precise pairing (#SleepingWarrior) they expected.

A character who never quite got his due and you always sensed was earmarked for a longer run, Neal was the thief who broke a teenage Emma's heart by ghosting her — though unbeknownst to her, it was at August's doing. Once the first Dark Curse was lifted and upon a road trip to New York, Emma came to realize that her ex and Rumplestiltskin's long-lost son were one and the same. And in fact, despite the father/son friction, Neal would ultimately give his life to save Rumple's.

'Twas this rugrat who set the overall story in motion, by cold-calling his birth mom in Boston, storybook in hand. Henry would go on to make Emma believe his incredible tale... play his own role in the story, as one of its powerful Authors... and eventually become a grown-up hero in his own right, with Season 7's "requel" mystery set in Seattle.

A(n albeit humanitarian) thief by trade, Robin Hood's arc drove home the recurring theme that people are not defined by their pasts — something which he, in turn, helped Regina herself accept after she finally bumped into her soulmate. Robin did not enter Regina's life without his own drama — he had a wife, whom a glamoured Zelena posed (and conceived a child!) as. But in the end he made the Evil Queen happy, he taught her how to love anew, and he gave up his own life, to save hers, to demonstration of that devotion.

With the Wicked Witch came not only flying monkeys and the Emerald City, but also a delicious family feud for Regina, a long-lost sister who made her green with envy. Though Zelena would cross all kinds of lines in the name of ruining Regina's life and romance with Robin Hood, the sisters eventually arrived at much more than a truce — and Zelena even turned out to be a fine mum herself!

The son of a peasant farmer, David's early adulthood was shaped by his alcoholic father's tragic fall off the wagon, leading him to believe that some battles cannot be won. But when circumstances led him to become a prince and then put him in the path of the pretty thief who would one day be his bride, David discovered his destiny as a do-right champion of hope and valor. (He also can pull off a puffy shirt.)

So much of Rumplestiltskin's growth as a person and character can be attributed to this beauty of a bookworm and her (almost!) inexhaustible faith in her beast being better. Perhaps more than any female character, Belle was put through the emotional wringer again and again, her trust repeatedly misplaced. In the end, though, she and Rumple found their happy ending, together forever.

This prosthetic-wearing pirate shook up heroic Emma's life (and good) with his Season 2 debut, while also serving as an ongoing foil for his longtime foe the "Crocodile" aka Rumple. Full of swagger and flirtatiousness, the rogue allowed the love of one good woman, Emma, to steer him on straighter path, into true "family man" material.

This Snow White was no damsel in distress. Raised as a proper (if pampered) princess, Snow's world was turned upside-down first by her mother Eva's death, and then the subsequent arrival of stepmom Regina. Snow and Regina's feud, sparked by the latter's repeated murder/poisoning attempts, was the stuff of fairy tale legend, while her adventures with OTL David aka Prince Charming helped forge her into a warrior in her own right. Plus, whenever the going got tough, Snow always had handy a speech about "hope."

The daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming had no "fairy tale" childhood. Transported to a safe but strange realm as a newborn, she bopped around foster homes and ultimately fell in love with a thief who was compelled to break her heart — and while she was with child, no less! When said son, placed for adoption, showed up on her doorstep decades later, it set Emma on her journey during which she would let down her walls, find true love, and be the hero — nay, Savior — she was fated to be,

Gold-spinner/master negotiator, Crocodile, Beast, pawn shop owner and grizzled Seattle police detective rolled into one, Rumple/Mr. Gold started off as a force to be reckoned with in Storybrooke, for both Mayor Mills and newcomer Emma Swan. His love story with Belle was far and away the series' most richly realized and deeply explored, while his rivalry with Hook — destined, in the very, very end, for friendship — was an entertaining, ongoing plot point.

The series finale kinda said it all, no? Regina started out as the Queen of Mean, the Storybrooke mayor whose disposition was so icy, even a visiting stranger had to wonder if she truly loved her son. But over seven seasons, Regina's rough edges were smoothed, she found love again in Robin Hood, and she settled into a "shared motherhood" situation with that aforementioned stranger, Emma Swan. In the end, the Evil Queen reigned as the Good Queen, and we along with all of Storybrooke and the other realms cheered.